1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to improvements in a three-point type seat belt apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a three-point type seat belt, webbing is disposed inside the rear of the door of a vehicle, and one end of the webbing is connected to a retractor disposed below one side of the vehicle and the other end thereof is turned back through a through-ring disposed above said one side of the vehicle and is made to depend downwardly and secured through an anchor disposed below said one side. When the webbing is not worn, it is held vertically inside the rear of the door, and when the webbing is worn, the seat occupant stretches his arm rearwardly and grips a suitable portion of the webbing or a tang plate to draw out the webbing forwardly and inwardly and bring the tang plate into engagement with a restraining device such as a buckle disposed at the center of the vehicle component, whereby the webbing is worn by the waist and shoulder of the seat occupant.
In the three-point type seat belt apparatus described above, the webbing is positioned rearwardly and sideways of the seat and there is a distance between the seat occupant, i.e. the seat, and the webbing and therefore, when the seat occupant wants to wear the webbing, he must twist his body and stretch his arm to grip the webbing or the tang plate, and this is inconvenient to the belt wearing operation. Particularly, where the door is large as in the case of a two-door vehicle, the pillar portion rearward of the door behind which the webbing is vertically provided is spaced apart rearwardly of the seat and thus, the distance between the seat and the webbing is great, and this is particularly inconvenient to the belt wearing operation.
To eliminate such disadvantages, various contrivances have heretofore been made. For example, it has been the practice to make the anchor movable longitudinally of the vehicle in a rail fixedly disposed on the floor sideways of the seat, and move the anchor forwardly through a runner or the like when the seat occupant wears the webbing, and move the anchor rearwardly when the seat occupant does not wear the webbing.
According to this practice, however, when the position of the seat has been moved and adjusted longitudinally of the vehicle for a reason such as the difference in constitution between seat occupants (particularly, when the position of the seat has been moved forwardly), even if the anchor is moved forwardly on purpose, the distance between the seat occupant and the webbing will become greater. This is because the guide rail is fixed to the floor.